Traveling Tribute To Vietnam Vets Visits Danville

There are 58,249 names on the traveling memorial known as "The Wall That Heals." Centre College student Melissa Langdon took the time to search the 250 foot wall from end to end in hopes of finding the names of some extended family.

Langdon told 27 NEWSFIRST, "I just found one name, Isgrig, which is my uncle's last name. It helps me feel connected to him somehow. I've never been to Washington D.C. so it's really powerful for me to get to see something like this."

The permanent Vietnam Veterans Memorial was the brainchild of a decorated Nam Vet named Jan Scruggs, who now supports the idea of taking a replica to the people who can't get to our nation's capital.

Scruggs says, "It really give people in the local communities an opportunity to visit and pay their respects and to meet the locals who are involved in military and veterans issues. New monuments are popular for a year or two, and then they fade off into obscurity sometimes, but the Vietnam Veterans Memorial has remained the most visited monument in Washington."

David Neikirk found an old friend on the traveling wall Wednesday.

He told us, "Ronnie Million and I went to school together here in Danville. Actually, we were later in the country at the same time in 1968. You know, to come back here right on the same lot where we went to high school is strange because the lot where the Norton Center is, used to be Danville High School. It's a little tough to take, but hopefully, it is The Wall That Heals, and it'll have some positive effects for a lot of people."

The traveling wall will be on display at Centre College through April 27.

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